ABSTRACT
The most important legal undertaking of Antiquity was the compilation of what was later called Corpus Iuris Civilis promulgated by Emperor Justinian. One of the most prominent legislators in human history, Justinian the Great was Eastern Roman emperor from August 1, 527 to his death on November 14, 565 in Constantinople. The purpose of Justinian's compilation was to restate the whole of Roman law in a single legal source of law with binding force over the entire empire. Justinian established a commission to prepare a comprehensive compilation of imperial enactments that were to bear his name: Justinian's Code. The Digest constitutes the main part of Justinian's compilation. After the Second World War, there was a well-justified reaction against the hunters of Justinian's interpolations. Justinian's Institutes were mostly based on Gaius Caesar's Institutes and his res cottidianae. Most of Justinian's Novels concerned public offices, administration of provinces, tax law, criminal law, and ecclesiastical law, and they survive in Greek.
